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The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia as well as in Croatia, Greece, Italy and Turkey. They also constitute a large diaspora with several communities established across Europe, the Americas and Oceania.
Arvanitika, also known as Arvanitic, is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. Arvanitika was brought to southern Greece during the late Middle Ages by Albanian settlers who moved south from their homeland in present-day Albania in several waves. The dialect preserves elements of medieval Albanian, while also being significantly influenced by the Greek language. Arvanitika is today endangered, as its speakers have been shifting to the use of Greek and most younger members of the community no longer speak it.
Arvanites are a population group in Greece of Albanian origin. They are bilingual, traditionally speaking Arvanitika, an Albanian language variety, along with Greek. Their ancestors were first recorded as settlers who came to what is today southern Greece in the late 13th and early 14th century. They were the dominant population element in parts of the Peloponnese, Attica and Boeotia until the 19th century. They call themselves Arvanites and Arbëror. Arvanites today self-identify as Greeks as a result of a process of cultural assimilation, and do not consider themselves Albanian. Arvanitika is in a state of attrition due to language shift towards Greek and large-scale internal migration to the cities and subsequent intermingling of the population during the 20th century.
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References
- ↑ Petersen, Roger D. (2011-09-30). Western Intervention in the Balkans: The Strategic Use of Emotion in Conflict. Cambridge University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-139-50330-3.
- ↑ "Racist' Newspaper Riles U.N. In Kosovo". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ↑ "Pacaku: Hate speech hampers Roma integration". Prishtina Insight. 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ↑ Gjoshi, Raba (2014). In the name of freedom of expression. Pristina: Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Kosovo. p. 5.
- ↑ "Advokat na TV upotrebio pogrdan naziv za Srbe - "škije"". B92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- 1 2 Gjergj Fishta; Robert Elsie; Janice Mathie-Heck (2005). The Highland Lute. I.B.Tauris. p. 459. ISBN 978-1-84511-118-2.
- ↑ Arshi Pipa (1978), Albanian literature: social perspective, Albanische Forschungen, R. Trofenik, pp. 55–56, ISBN 9783878281061, OCLC 5281689,
Since « Shkla- vun » is the albanization of Venetian « Schiavone », it would seem that the setting is Maina. This region, stretching alongside Mount Taygetus and extending into the sea...
- 1 2 Gjergji Shuka (2015), Tridhjetë Këngë Dhe Legjenda Ballkanike: Studim Mbi Origjinën Historike [Thirty songs and Balkanic legends: Study over the historical origin], Naimi, p. 78, ISBN 9789928109866, OCLC 928752657,
translated
Among Albanians of Greece, where our song originates, the word "shkla" is used to identify the Greek neighbors; among the Arbereshe of Italy - who frequently trace their origin to the today's western Greece - the words "shklan" and "shklerisht" mean: "who does not speak Arberisht" or "who speaks an incomprehensible language", referring, of course, to Latin language. - ↑ Tsitsipis, Lukas (1981). Language change and language death in Albanian speech communities in Greece: A sociolinguistic study. (Thesis). University of Wisconsin. pp. 100-101. "The term /evjeni̇́stika/ meaning “polite”, used by the young speaker to refer to Greek, is offered as synonymous to /shkljiri̇́shtika/ one of the various morphological shapes of the Arvanitika word /shkljeri̇́shtë/ which refers to “the Greek language”. Thus, Greek is equated with the more refined, soft, and polite talk. The concept of politeness is occasionally extended from the language to its speakers who are the representatives of the urban culture. In conversations in Kiriaki, I heard the word /shklji̇́ra/ (fem.) referring to a city women who exhibits polite and fancy behavior according to the local view. As I stated in the introduction to this dissertation, most of the occurrences of the term /shkljeri̇́shtë/ are not socially marked, and simply refer to the Greek language. But a few are so marked and these are the ones that reflect the speakers’ attitudes. The term /shkljeri̇́shtë/ is ambiguous. This ambiguity offers a valuable clue to the gradual shift in attitudes. It points to the more prestigious Greek language and culture, and also has a derogatory sense. In my data only the first meaning of the socially marked senses of the word occurs."; pp. 101-102. "The second meaning is offered by Kazazis in his description of the Arvanitika community of Sofikó, in the Peloponnese (1976:48): . . . two older people from Sofiko told me independently that, to the not-so-remote past, it was those who spoke Greek with their fellow-Arvanites who were ridiculed. Even today, if an older inhabitant of Sofiko were to speak predominantly in Greek with his fellow villagers of the same age, he would be called i shkljerishtúarë, literally “Hellenized” but used here as a derogatory term denoting affectation. One of those two informants, a woman, said that, until about 1950, it was a shame for a girl in Sofiko to speak Greek with her peers, for that was considered as “putting on airs.” In Spata, /shkljeri̇́shtë/ is used only to refer to “the Greek language” although speakers are aware of the other meanings of the word."
- ↑ Stavro Skendi (1980). Balkan Cultural Studies. East European Monographs. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-914710-66-0.
Shkje is the plural of Shkja, which in Albanian means both Slav and Orthodox Christian. Its derivation is: L. sclavus > Alb. shklavus > shkla > shkja
- ↑ Pipa, Arshi (1989). The politics of language in socialist Albania. East European Monographs. p. 178. "North Albanian call Slavs shqé (sg. shqá <shkjá <shklá, from sclavus), whereas to Greco-Albanians shklerisht means ‘in the Greek language.’ Hamp observes that “obviously the meaning is traditionally ‘the neighbouring foreigner,’ as with Welsh, Vlah, etc.”"
- ↑ "...Po me të qënë që sot flasinë serbisht, quhenë Shqeh e jo Shqipëtarë; se gjuha ësht, e para shënj e të çquarit të kombevet."
- ↑ Balkan War Report: Bulletin of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting. Institute for War & Peace Reporting. 1997.
For example, Serb and Macedonian newspapers frequently refer to Albanians as "Shiptars", while Albanian papers call Serbs "Shkja". Both terms are perceived as insulting by the peoples concerned.